ISU Ag450 Farm Fall 2012

Well folks, we've been having a very busy semester so far with harvest in full swing and getting to know the farm. We have currently finished our corn and bean harvests! Today everyone is gearing up to get the test plots harvested.
We have had many fun visitors so far this semester including Dr. Duffy and Keith Gehling. We greatly appreciate them bringing their knowledge and expertise to the farm and helping us grow. We have also been talking to our AgriGold and Pioneer reps about getting insecticide control on our planter. With the ever growing rootworm issue spreading through the state we are hoping to stay on top of the problem by planting traited corn and applying a soil applied insecticide at planting. We haven't decided on the exact equipment we want to install yet, or product we want to use but we will keep you posted.
The PR committte has been busy this semester making some changes to our facebook. If you haven't all ready, go "like" our new organizational facebook page! It will keep you updated on all the happenings on the farm on a weekly basis.
The swine committee is currently working on replacing the curtains and panles in the finishing barn. Marketing has made sure we are marketing our grain at the right times to make our farm as profitable as possible. Finance is keeping track of all the expenses coming in and out of the farm at this current time, which is keeping them plenty busy! Buildings and grounds is also working on helping our farm become more green by purchasing energy efficient fluorescent lights to hopefully lower our energy costs. Machinery committee is keeping our equipment going with proper maintenance. This has been especially important during harvest to keep our farmers in the field! Crops committee is by far the busiest of our committees right now between making sure we have everything we need for spring planting for next semesters class and making sure our fall harvest goes smoothly.
Make sure you keep up to date on the current activities on the farm by following us on Twitter and "liking" us on Facebook.

The First 4 Weeks of the Summer Semester.

Well it took us a while to find everything, but now we are completely on track. The first 4 weeks of class have gone by pretty fast. We have already completed our state of the farm and have begun working on the strategic issue projects. Within the past few weeks we have had many visits to the farm from various people such as, LaMar Grafft from Certified Safe Farm and Travis Miller our Agrigold Seed Representative. We held the Mechanics CDE for state FFA last week so there were many high school students which may be potential students roaming about the farm. With this came a lot of questions as to how the farm is ran and who makes the decisions. A few students along with their teachers thought it was hard to believe that the farm was run by the students. Now we are patiently waiting for some students from the Climate Camp to come out to the farm so that we can give them a mini lesson on the Trimble which is a handheld GPS which we use when we go out crop scouting every Friday afternoon.

Experiential Teaching

Since spring break committees have been busy with their experiential teaching projects.  Today finance finished up the presentations with teaching the class to run the program Quickbooks.  Each committee had an opportunity to input a months worth of bookkeeping into the actual program.  Last Thursday, buildings and grounds had the class tin the compost shed.  Swine taught the class to vaccinate pigs, which proved a very new experience for some.  The marketing committee presented Tuesday to the class.  They taught some in the bin safety along with some marketing terms.  There hands-on learning was successful as many of the students enjoyed racing to put the safety harnesses on.  These harnesses should be worn when entering a bin to prevent entrapment. 

Alot of catching up!

The last couple weeks have been extremely busy!  Tuesday March 26 was the strategic issue presentations, which went extremely well.  Public Relations did their experiential teaching on the following Thursday and talked about the appropriate ways to right e-mails, social media statuses and how to respond to an article.  Today, Tuesday April 3, machinery and customs committee taught the class to run the GPS system on the tractors and how to change sweeps out.  All experiential teachings have gone great so far and there are several more to come!

STRATEGIC ISSUE

A giant project is upon us.  This is designed for students to work in their committees to examine and research in detail a strategic issue facing the 450 farm in either the short-run or the long-run.  Each committee is given a different strategic issue to deal with and will be presenting their solution or proposal for a solution on Tuesday, March 27.  This helps not only place students in real-life situations, but it also creates consequences if they don't put true thought into it.  It involves teamwork within committees and teamwork between semester classes.  One big issue the farm is facing at the moment involves the possible construction of a new classroom.  This creates several issues in itself for the Spring 2012 class to ponder. 

All committees are hard at work with this project.  Then, starting next Thursday, the public relations committee kicks off the experiential teaching assignments.  The students become the instructors and show the rest of the class a little bit of what they are responsible for.  This also gives the rest of the class to try doing something another committee is responsible for.

Spring Break is Approaching

As spring break approaches the ag 450 farm is full of busy committees.  The business meeting Tuesday followed guest speakers John and David Baker who talked about succession planning.  They help young farmers, who make up alot of the 450 class, come up with a plan to take over the family farm or with issues that relate.  Today, the marketing committee hauled old crop to elevator.  They also sold crop tuesday as markets were up.  Buildings and grounds started cleaning some old things out of the house basement.  Finance is crunching numbers as usual.  Public Relations is working on their experiential teaching for March 22.  Overall everyone is hard at work!  Don't forget to friend us on Facebook ag450farm@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter @ISUag450Farm !

A Rainy Kind of Day

Tuesday we started class on campus like usual.  We were fortunate to have Kevin Kimle come to our class and give a presentation titled "The Farmer Entrepreneur".  Not only did he provide a well rounded definition for the term entrepreneur, but he also helped the class to realize there are multiple ways to become an entrepreneur.  Several of the students in the 450 class will find themselves returning to the family farm in the next few months and Kimle provided all students, but especially these, with information to help them feel comfortable in a possible entrepreneurial position.

Following the presentation, our usual Tuesday business meeting was conducted.  Liquifiers to help prevent the hog manure from crusting were purchased by the swine committee.  Following everyone's reports we approved, as a class, a couple bills presented by the finance committee.

Thursday has been full of busy work.  With the rain/snow mix falling outside, committees who are usually busy outside find themselves inside accompanied with busy work.  Committee pictures are on the agenda and in the process to provide our social media with temporary photo updates of the Spring 2012 class.  Later in the semester we plan on taking better ones when the weather is nicer. 

Marketing Committee is working on getting magnets and/or stickers for trucks and tractors for advertising purposes.  Finance committee is continually crunching numbers.  Overall, turning out to be a very productive day even with the crumby weather!

A busy week of business!

Tuesday was started off right with the State of the Farm presentations.  All committees made sure to present the current state of their committee along with what important things the past committees have done and what they are doing to make things easier for future committees.  Following the State of the Farm presentations was a business meeting.  Several things were brought up and decided upon as we continue to keep the daily decisions rolling for the 450 farm. 
Today, Thursday, was a busy day for everyone.  Our first notebook checks are do by the end of class, so everyone is busy getting their notebooks in order.  Also, transfer students visited from Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls and members of the Public Relations committee were able to give them a quick tour on their way back to Iowa Falls.  We also had a reporter from Farm News stop out as the paper was interested in finding out about the farm and its unique, student run system.  Been a great day and things keep rolling on!

Another day on the farm

Today we are having a reporter and photographer from the Iowa State Daily to report and take some picture of the farm. We are showing them around the facility and giving them a history of the farm. We plan on also showing them the work being done inside of the house. Construction on closet space and the ceiling began the other day and is well under way. Tomorrow some work will be done with the pigs getting them loaded up. Next week all committees will be giving their state of the farm repot in Tuesdays class.

Business Meeting Tuesday, January 31

     There weren't many issues to discuss, but a few minor.  As each committee presented it was obvious that they have all been busy.  Marketing sold corn last week.  Crops proposed doing a contract with Windfield Solutions.  Grounds and Buildings has been hard at work putting gates up around the compost pile and putting together figures on house maintenance.  Swine spent Thursday of last week attending Pork Congress in Des Moines.  There mission was to find vendors selling an additive that would help liquify the pit. 
     New business included two things.  The first was house maintenance that involved turning a storage room into a closet for more space in the bathroom and fixing walls and ceilings from a past leak. Previous money had been set aside that allowed for maintenance of these things, so the vote was simply for using that money.  The other new business was the Public Relations responsibility.  Class t-shirts will be used from last fall as they made enough for everyone in the Spring class to have as well.

Officer Elections

Officer Elections were held on Tuesday January 24, 2012. The class Chair is Ryan Augustine, Vice Chair is Matt Reed, Secretary is Kate Longley, and the Historian is the Public Relations committee. We are excited about the semester, and are ready to jump into projects around the farm.

Spring Semester is Here

Spring 2012 class is off to a great start at the Ag 450 Farm. Committees have been assigned and everyone is working hard to accomplish the most we can this semester. Keep up to date with us on Facebook and Twitter.